


Dude, You're Like Rapunzel

by mysupernaturalobsessions



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, Destiel - Freeform, F/M, First Kiss, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Rapunzel Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:12:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4553817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysupernaturalobsessions/pseuds/mysupernaturalobsessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off the original fairy tale of Rapunzel. Cas is locked in a tower with a magical power and Dean tries to save him, but Cas isn't so sure he needs any saving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a fair, blue-eyed boy born in the Land of Angeles. His parents were commoners. His father was a self-proclaimed prophet and everyone ridiculed him, but he fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the land. Her name was Anna. It was said she could dazzle anyone with just a look. Every man she met fell in love with her. But Chuck was different. He complimented her for other things – the way she could sing like an angel, and how kind she was to everyone she met. Chuck didn’t think he stood a chance, but Anna fell for him as surely as he did for her. 

They snuck around to see each other. No one would approve, they were sure, of an outcast and a socialite together. 

Everything hit the fan when she got pregnant. Her parents kicked her out of the house. She took her horse, Nester, and rode to Chuck’s cottage on the outskirts of town. Weeks later her brother, Zach, attacked her in the streets, causing irreparable blindness to her beautiful blue eyes. People who saw just let it happen. Chuck and Anna were scared to go out in public after that. They spent most of their time in their cozy home, with two main rooms and a small bathroom. 

Her life with Chuck was a poor, but happy one. Their time together was short-lived. He bought a special root from the apothecary, in a vain attempt to give her back her sight. The treatments never worked, but Chuck kept trying even though the couple could hardly afford it. They tried to move on. They built a crib, and planted a garden. They took care of Nester. They thought the worst of things were behind them.

Anna went into labor well past midnight. Chuck could tell something was wrong right away. He ran for help, but no one would come. He came back just in time to watch his son being born. 

“Chuck,” Anna said weakly, she held out her hand. 

He knelt between her legs on the side of the bed. There was blood all over the floor, but he could see a mop of dark hair and he focused on that. Anna nearly doubled over and pulled her son out herself. Chuck cut the cord with rusty garden scissors. For years he would wonder if that was what did it, in the end. Anna took the baby in her arms and fell asleep. She never woke up.

News spread throughout the Kingdom of the death and birth. Anna’s family reclaimed her body and buried it without thought for her little family. Chuck never set foot outside his property anymore. He couldn’t even bring himself to pick up the baby. He sat in their bed, listening to Castiel cry from his crib. 

After three days the baby opened his eyes. The crying stopped and Chuck looked at him from across the small cottage room. Suddenly, Chuck was standing beside the baby, not having moved at all. One moment he was on the bed, the next moment he was there. For the first time in his life, Chuck felt legitimately crazy. He looked down at his son, at the blue eyes he got from Anna, and picked him up. He fed him milk the boy from town had delivered to the stoop that morning. The baby cooed in his arms, and Chuck smiled. 

Whenever he looked at Castiel and met his eyes, he was transported to the crib. At first it was disconcerting, but Chuck got accustomed quickly. He had suspicions that this was a side effect of the eye roots he had been feeding Anna during her pregnancy. Maybe, he hoped, that meant this strange magic would wear off. He knew how awful it was growing up different and he hoped for a better life for his son. 

The next morning there was a knock on the door. Chuck opened it wearily. He saw Zach and nearly closed the door in his face. The larger man, guessing Chuck’s intention, easily pushed his way inside. 

“I’ve come to see the baby,” he said. 

“He is none of your concern.”

“He is my blood. That makes him my concern. Where is he?”

He looked to the other side of the room. Chuck watched, panicking, because Castiel’s curious eyes were already trained on this newcomer. Chuck tried to throw himself into the line of sight, but it was too late. Zach was standing behind Castiel’s crib with a shocked expression on his face, an expression which quickly turned to anger. 

“First you poisoned my sister, and now my nephew. You are no prophet, not a healer. You’re a demon. I will not have this, this monster for a nephew,” he gestured to the boy. “Someday I will be King of the Land of Angeles, Princess Naomi my Queen, and I will not have my sister’s foolishness take that away from me!”

Zach stooped down to pick up the baby, none to carefully. Chuck ran forward. Castiel’s eyes flashed to him and then he was there, taking his son back from Zach. He pulled away, before the man could react.

“You will not take my son,” Chuck said, voice trembling as he dodged a swipe of Zach’s arm. He ran out to the yard, where Nester the horse was tied. He pulled the rope up over the fence and climbed up one-handed. Castiel was cradled to his chest. 

When Chuck looked pack, Zach was just a few paces behind them. They sped off before he could touch them. 

Zach screamed while they rode off into the forest. “I will have the guards after you! I will have the boy’s eyes on a stick!”

Chuck shuddered and looked down at his son. Castiel was resting up against his shoulder, but his head was high, high enough to see over him. With a start Chuck realized he had been looking back at Zach, too. The further into the forest they got, the less worried Chuck became about Zach teleporting behind them by the force of Castiel’s eyes. Maybe the boy hadn’t been looking at him after all. Maybe the curse was already wearing off.


	2. The Book of Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel AU: Dean is a thief who works for Crowley, he comes across a tower in the woods.

Dean ran through the streets, dodging guards and pedestrians, with the Book of Angels clutched under his shirt. He pulled his hood up over his head just before he turned down an alley. People watched him go. The guards ran by on the main street. Dean slowed to a normal pace and, when the coast was clear, turned back onto a main road that would lead him to the edge of the Land of Angeles. From there it would be all forest for miles. He could sell his prize at a neighboring town and be set for weeks. He just had to keep his head down. 

This road was quieter than the last. He passed less people, and with the lack of imminent danger, his heart slowly stopped trying to beat its way out of his chest. 

It had been a close call at the castle, but Dean was fast. He was good at what he did, even if he didn’t feel good about it all the time. He stole from the government, because he could justify it to himself. He never robbed innocent people even though that would be a hell of a lot easier. 

Dean cast another glance back before he ducked into the trees at the edge of the forest. The guards had cut him off at the fountain where he usually turned left onto another lane. Instead, he was on the complete opposite side of town and nowhere near where he had expected to be. He decided he could meet his client, Crowley, in the northeast town of Purgatory. The trip would be longer, but it would be safer.

He pulled his compass from his pocket and stopped to think. He walked eastward for a while, testing out the slope of the land and the direction he would have to move. Dean liked to stay in the thickness of trees whenever possible. This book was worth a lot and King Zachariah wouldn’t simply hand it over without a fight. 

But his map and compass were leading him out toward a clearing. He stayed on the outskirts, just along the trees and kept an eye out for any strangers. People mostly stayed out of the woods, but he had met a few vagabonds in his travels, and some thieves like himself. He had almost gotten robbed once, of the goods he had stolen himself. He would never let his guard down again. 

Up ahead he noticed a formation on the edge of the clearing. From afar the trees disguised it easily, but as Dean walked straight for it, he saw the fixture for what is was – a tower, built four stories high with white stone and a flat roof. Its surface was smooth, with no windows or doors as far as Dean could tell. Moss reached halfway up, disguising the tower even more in the green surroundings. 

He walked to it and reached out to trace the mossy stone with his hand. He circled the exterior, curious. He was right, there was no door. He glanced up at the sole window on the western side of the tower. Inside was dark, seemingly deserted.

Dean withdrew back into the confines of the forest just in time. He heard branches snapping far ahead before he saw anyone approaching. He ducked behind a tree, moving much more quietly than the stranger. He watched as a dark haired man entered the clearing and approached the tower with sure steps. The man stopped a few paces away before glancing around and looking up at the window. 

“Castiel,” the man said. It must have been some sort of magic spell or something because all of a sudden the man disappeared. Dean blinked rapidly, staring at the empty space left behind. 

Dean shoved away from the tree. He had dealt with enough magic that day, escaping all the traps set up in the castle. Nothing good ever came from inhuman forces. Besides, spells or magic of any kind were illegal for commoners. He could not afford to put himself in danger of any more trouble. 

He proceeded on his three day journey to the town of Purgatory. Once he got there, he could call his client and set up a meeting. He would be back to the Land of Angeles within the week. There was a lot to do in that time, and a lot of distractions, but he thought about the mysterious man in the woods most of the trip.

He considered mentioning it to Crowley at their business lunch. He was a powerful man, who knew far too much about the different Kingdoms and the land in between. Purgatory itself was a town between the noble lands, ruled by the people with very few rules at all. Crowley seemed to fit in nicely. 

He was almost excited when Dean called him from a payphone to change the location of their meeting. Dean easily spotted Crowley across the restaurant floor. The place was grimy, filled with smoke and the smell of oil. He smiled at the only man in a suit like a good employee and kept his mouth shut. 

“I believe you have something for me.” Crowley smirked. Dean nodded and patted his chest once, thudding against the book. “Good. Then have a seat.”

Dean complied. The waitress brought two glasses of water without prompting and Crowley shooed her away with his hand. Dean smiled up at the girl, but she was already scurrying away. 

“Don’t flirt with the help, Dean.”

“I’m not flirting,” Dean said. He pulled out the Book of Angels inconspicuously and placed it on his lap. “And she’s not the help.”

“She is for the remainder of our stay,” Crowley insisted. He pushed a small bag filled with coins over the table. Dean shoved it in his pocket before extending the book to his client under the table. Crowley smiled again when he touched the pages. “I’m quite enjoying our partnership, Mr. Winchester. You’re very clean at what you do, and you leave no messes behind. No trouble along the way?”

If Dean was going to bring up the tower, this was his chance, but something about the man in the woods made him pause. He had been naïve, surely, moving around so blatantly outside the districts of suitable civilization. But he had to have been there for a reason, and not a good one at that. Dean may be a thief but he wasn’t a snitch.

He shook his head. “No, no trouble.” 

“Excellent. I have a feeling the Kings Guards will know it was I who was behind this burglary."

"What did you want it for anyway?"

Crowley shot him a sharp look. Dean knew better than to ask his clients questions, especially when their requests were so specific. Crowley wanted this book desperately. To his surprise, the man answered anyway. "It belonged to my family. You're not the only thief in the Land of Angeles, you know. Some people steal and call it justice, they take what isn't theirs under the guise of government." He stared hard at the table, hands closed in fists. After a few breaths he unfolded his hands and glanced back up. "Anyway, lunch? My treat."

“I actually better head back. It’s a long journey.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sure that brother of yours will be worried about you.” Crowley must have stashed the book without Dean noticing. The man placed his hands under his chin like a steeple. Dean fidgeted in his seat under his stare. He had never mentioned his brother Sam to Crowley before. Then again, Crowley seemed to know everything.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Dean coughed. 

“Well, then,” Crowley said, opening his palms in a helpless gesture. “My people will be in touch.”

“Good.” 

Dean stood up. He smiled and shook Crowley’s hand because that was his job and he needed the money. Crowley was scary, for sure, but he was fair and he paid well. No matter the risks or complications or horrible bosses, Dean did what he needed to do to survive.


	3. Dark Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean hears singing from the tower and feels drawn to it.

On his way back to Sam’s cottage in the Land of Angeles, Dean passed by the tower again. He figured it was probably a bad idea, an idea that could only lead to trouble, but something drew him there. As he got closer, he heard someone singing. The voice was low-pitched and rough, but the song sounded nice. Dean circled the bottom of the tower again, until he could see the open window. That was definitely where the voice was coming from, but the window was still dark. 

The song quieted down to its ending. Dean waited a moment, hoping it would start up again. When it didn’t he realized with a start that he was out in the clearing, in view of anyone who might be in the woods nearby. He scurried back into the protection of the trees and quickly made his way back into town. 

Sam still lived in the little white cottage where the Winchester’s had grown up. Dean did, too, whenever he was in town. When Jess had agreed to marry his brother, she moved in as well, and the house that had felt so neglected after his parents died started to fill up again.

Dean walked up the brick path to the front door. Jess had planted flowers along the front wall in time for spring and they were just starting to sprout. Dean was excited for some time off, to spend with his family. 

He found Jess standing at the kitchen sink when he entered the house. She turned immediately, relief clear on her face. 

“Dean,” she breathed, rushing forward and enveloping him in a hug. 

He patted her back. “Hey, what’s wrong? Is Sam okay?”

“Of course,” she pulled back to look at him, confusion clear on her face. 

Sam could be heard bounding down the steps, when he turned the corner he was nearly running toward the kitchen. “Dean, where have you been? There are wanted posters up all over town for some hooded robber with green eyes.”

He thrust the paper at Dean. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. What did you do, Dean? The King is on a warpath.” 

“It’ll be fine,” Dean insisted. He set the paper down. “Doesn’t look a thing like me. Things will settle down.”

Jess patted his back again, and ushered him to the table. “What did you take, Dean?”

“Just some book, I don’t know. Crowley asked for it. He described the cover and I found it. They stole it first, you know, like everything else in that stupid castle.”

Sam sighed deeply. “We know.” 

Dean appreciated their concern, he really did. But he considered stealing a job like anything else. When he got home, he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was off the clock. Now that the initial worry subsided, Dean tried to get back to his regular home life. 

He sat down to a meal the newlyweds had made and went to bed early, sleeping better than he had in weeks. He had no jobs to plan, or magical problems to solve. He dreamt of white-brick windows and bluebirds. 

There was plenty to do even though he was technically on vacation. Their little cottage was falling apart most of the time. When he wasn’t busy with that, he would go out and restore the wagon they used to bring materials to town. 

Sam was a weaver, so he made cloth from the three sheep the family kept in the back yard. Jess would turn out shirts and dresses and go sell them in town once a month. The money was barely enough to keep them going, but it was respectable work and people in town accepted them.

The brothers had decided early on that Dean needed a job, too, to diffuse suspicion. So he started doing repairs throughout the land. Everyone saw him working and he was always moving to different houses, so no one could expect him to be any certain place. It was enough of an alibi if he ever needed one. Besides, he was good at it. 

Jess went into town the day after Dean’s arrival. Dean was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast when she came back inside through the screen door. 

“Wagon’s all packed,” she said. “Are you coming to the market today? Benny was asking around for you, needs some help with his roof shingles.”

Dean turned back. “Yeah, just let me get my tools.” 

Sam was getting their only horse set up to the wagon hitch when Dean came back outside. The horse was getting old, her white body turning an odd grey color. It didn’t seem like she had many good days left, but none of them mentioned it. They needed a horse to get into town, but they couldn’t afford one if they wanted to keep up their sheep business. As far as Dean saw it, they had two options: the family could move out of their beloved home and go closer to the market center, or he could start stealing more. 

The thought put him in a bad mood for travel. Jess took the reins, her usual cheerful self. She had done her blonde hair up in a braid and she wore a light sundress. She was pretty, by anyone’s standards, even though she was poor. It made her a good saleswoman because people wanted to talk to her and they didn’t feel threatened. 

She tried to ease Dean into conversation, but to no avail. Eventually she cut to the chase. 

“We’re doing okay, you know. We’ll get by.”

“Yeah, I know. We always do.” 

They unpacked their merchandise at the end of the row of stalls and laid it out over the wagon front. They couldn’t afford a real booth, especially when Jess insisted it wouldn’t help sales much. People were already milling around, shopping. 

Dean stood back a bit when people looked at Jess’s clothes and spoke to her. Jess was a hard haggler. She hadn’t been at first, but she caught on quick. 

Being idle was dangerous territory for Dean at the moment. If his unconscious mind was anything to go by, his thoughts were turning a very illegal direction. Magical towers would be dangerous, sure, but it could be worth something, too. No one would put so much effort into hiding something that wasn’t valuable. 

“What’s on your mind?” Jess asked softly. They were alone again. 

Dean scratched the back of his neck, cautious to bring up the subject of his dreams. He knew he could trust Jess, she was family after all, but he had a sudden fear that she would laugh and call him crazy. Someone singing in an abandoned tower in the woods was definitely not normal. 

“I…uh, just promise you won’t tell Sam okay?”

She looked up. “Okay.”

“Well, I was out in the forest and I came across this clearing. There was a tower and a man went up to it and said something and then he disappeared, like on the spot disappeared. And when I went by again on my way home, I heard someone singing inside.”

“In the tower?” she said. Dean nodded, hesitant. At least she wasn’t laughing yet. She leaned back against the side of the wagon. “Sounds like a fairy tale.”

Dean smirked. “Sounds like some dark magic shit.”

She shook her head, amused. “Always a cynic.”

Dean smiled and looked up as a rugged man approached them. He nodded at Dean. 

“Hey, Benny. Looking for me?” Dean held up his toolbox.

“Yeah, brother, the roof has been leaking for weeks. Buckets just ain’t cutting it no more. I can give you half the money, now, but I won’t have the rest until the end of the month.”

“Don’t sweat it, man. Tell Andrea to throw in some of those sweet rolls and we’ll call it even.”

Jess grabbed his arm before he could walk away. She leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Even if it isn’t some dark magic shit, you should probably stay away, okay?”

She stood back and looked at him seriously. 

“Yeah, ‘course,” Dean muttered. He left with his friend down the road, calling back over his shoulder. “I’ll meet you back here in a few hours.”

He tried to smile back at her, but it felt hollow. He should have never told her about the tower. Dean had never been one to follow the rules. Of course she would tell him to steer clear, and now more than ever, he really wanted to go back.


	4. Meeting Rapunzel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel has been alone in his tower for a long time, so when a stranger outside calls him name, Castiel looks out the window.

Castiel sat beneath the sole window in his room. This place was the only home he had ever known. His own father had built in from the ground up and filled it with an eclectic collection of homey items from his travels. Each time he returned he came back with new treats for Castiel – a patchwork blanket, a baby cactus potted in a brown planter, and a bookcase filled with over a hundred books in every genre and time period. 

When Castiel was a boy, he had often begged his father to take him along. He understood, now, that this tower was for his protection. He was different. He had powers no one else had, and that other people would try to use him or hurt him for.

His own mother had been killed in the town where he was born. So, yes, while he might get a little bored and lonely sometimes in his tower, he knew it was necessary, and he knew it was home. Someday his father would find a cure, a way to stop Castiel from beckoning other humans forward, transporting them with just a look. But until then he had to hide. 

He cherished the time with his father. Chuck would come home and call for Castiel, so the boy could bring him up into the room in the tower. 

His father had left recently for a trip to Huffanus, where the city was building a new market center. They paid day laborers well. It would be a while before the project was completed and Chuck could come home. He had stocked the tower with enough food for a month. Castiel startled at the sight of it all, overflowing from the cabinets used for kitchen storage. Chuck had never been gone so long before. 

So he wasn’t expecting him anytime soon. But early in the afternoon one day, he heard someone calling to him from the clearing, once cautiously, and then a second time. 

“Castiel. Castiel!”

The voice did not belong to his father. Yet they knew his name. Castiel knew better than to look out the window, he really did. Whenever he heard noises outside, voices or hoof beats, he ducked to the opposite side of the tower. He didn’t want to accidently look at anyone.

This time he peered up over the window pane. There was a man standing there, not much older than himself. Castiel saw his bright green eyes for a moment, and then the man was gone.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, he turned around to face the man who was now standing in the tower, looking around frantically and then moving toward Castiel. He threw his hands up. 

“Don’t,” Castiel croaked. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Who are you? How did I get here?”

Castiel pulled himself to his feet. The man was tall and he wanted to be on even footing with his intruder. “How did you now my name?”

“That’s your name?!” The man shook his head. “I was passing by, a few days ago, and I saw a man say Castiel and then disappear. I was…curious. I guess it was pretty stupid.”

“Curiosity is a dangerous thing,” Castiel said, agreeing. He stared openly at the man who was still looking around the room with a half-panicked expression. 

“Did you do this? Did you bring him up here, too?” 

“Yes. But with you, I didn’t mean to. What’s your name?”

“Dean. My name’s Dean.”

“What were you doing in the forest? Couldn’t have been anything good,” Cas mused. Dean looked down and scuffed his feet on the floor. At that moment, Castiel decided Dean was harmless. Or if that proved wrong, he could always push the man from the tower. Cas looked at Dean, not quite smiling, but there was a sparkle in his eye. “Dean, can you keep a secret?”

Castiel told him about his power and how he stayed in the tower to protect himself from being found out. He said his uncle was after him, without specifying that his uncle happened to be a King. By the time he finished, Cas felt refreshed to had finally had someone to tell his story to.

Dean stared at him, open-mouthed. “Dude, you’re like Rapunzel.”

Cas frowned. “I don’t understand that reference.”

“You’ve got like a thousand books in here, and none of them are fairy tales?” 

“I do have one,” Cas said. He stood in front of the bookcase, which nearly reached the ceiling, eyes searching. Dean came to stand beside him. “It’s about a fish, or something, who wants to be a human and needs a prince to save her but she’s an idiot and loses her voice and doesn’t think to write him a letter.”

“Um…”

“Ah, there it is,” Cas said, reaching up to grab it. Dean looked over to see the large expanse of skin revealed when Castiel stretched like that. He turned red when Cas caught him staring, but Castiel didn’t mention it. Instead, he just handed the book to Dean. “I’d be happy to let you read it while you’re here.”

Dean chuckled. “Actually, I better get going. I didn’t tell my family where I was going this morning. But, how do I get out of this place. There is a way out right? Besides jumping out the window?”

“You can’t leave,” Cas said.

“What do you mean I can’t leave?”

“You can go at nightfall. If you go now, someone might see you.” 

The two men stared at each other, Cas gauging the reaction of his new houseguest, and Dean trying to figure out whether Castiel was telling the truth. 

“So, you’re holding me hostage?” Dean said. 

Cas shrugged. “Just for a few hours.”

He left Dean standing beside bookshelf to go sit on his giant bed. The patchwork quilt was hanging off one side and a puffy tan comforter on the other. Castiel had draped fabrics above his mattress, creating a sort of awning. He settled back onto the bed with the sketches he had been working on. 

After a few minutes he noticed Dean was staring at him from across the room. He looked up and met his eyes. Dean was suddenly standing at the foot of his bed. His green eyes were wide, but his features settled quickly. Cas looked away. 

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“No problem,” Dean said easily. He perched on the edge of the bed and opened his book. Castiel was a quiet guy, and strange what with the isolation and everything, but Dean decided he liked him. He moved over in the bed and offered Dean a pillow up against the headboard so they could sit side by side. As far as hostage situations go, this wasn’t too bad. 

Dean started reading the book about the mermaid, though he knew the story, but he found his eyes drawn to the small circular room around him. It was cluttered. Beside the bed there was an armchair and table, there was a dresser across the room and the bookshelf, and there was little makeshift kitchen. There were no lamps so that explained why it always seemed dark from the outside. The window gave just enough light in the room. 

When the sun rose higher in the sky, the light was nearly gone. Dean closed the book. He wouldn’t be able to read now if he wanted to, and it wasn’t nearly nightfall. 

Castiel was scribbling on a fresh page, though Dean was convinced he couldn’t see it. He grew bored easily, sitting in the dark.

“Hey, Cas?” Dean said quietly. The man looked up at him. “Do you ever think about leaving? I mean, there are places that allow magic. You could get a house in a free district.”

“My uncle would find me. Besides, I’m fine here.”

“What do you do when it’s dark, though? Don’t you get bored?”

Castiel set down his notebook and considered the question more fully than Dean expected to. When he looked back at him, Dean felt a tingling sensation through his whole body. Maybe he was too close for Castiel to pull him any closer, and that was the effect. It felt nice. 

“I suppose I’m used to it,” Cas said eventually. “I light candles sometimes, away from the window so I can read. Most of the time, I just sing.”

Dean smiled. “I heard you.”

“You did?” Cas looked up, startled. “I didn’t realize…”

“You sounded good, man.”

“Thank you,” Cas said quietly. He closed the book on his lap and stared down at its cover through the dark. Dean didn’t understand why he looked so sad.


	5. A Ladder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean visits Cas in his tower.

Castiel and Dean talked for hours. They also cooked food from the pantry on a little hotplate on the counter. Dean tried to explain the story of Rapunzel, but Cas didn’t take too kindly to being called a damsel in distress. 

He showed him all the little trinkets he had in the tower. Castiel liked to build things. He made mechanisms work with wires and sunlight and Dean was amazed that it wasn’t magic. He looked at Cas’s sketches, too, designs mostly. His father had taught him how to make things, and how to fix them. Dean liked that they had that in common. 

The tower was full of scientific machinery: a pulley system that brought in water from the ground, a fully functioning bathroom eight feet deep under the floorboards, and a panel in the ceiling that created energy for the rare times Castiel needed it. 

Dean was transfixed. He stayed close beside Cas all day. When he wasn’t, he would just wind up there anyway. The sudden movement stopped surprising him. 

Eventually, Cas glanced out the window and looked at Dean in one of those intense, long stares he used. Dean stared right back. 

“I believe it would be safe for you to leave now,” Cas said.

“Are you sure?” 

Cas nodded. “Yes, if we wait much longer it won’t be safe for you to travel home.” 

“So how do we do this? Does your power work in reverse and you just put me back, or do you have a contraption for this, too?” 

“No,” Cas said, like it should have been obvious. “I have a ladder.”

Dean was a little terrified of heights, but he wasn’t about to admit it. He took the rope ladder in both hands. Cas helped him tie it to the posts in the windowsill and throw it over the edge. Dean was a few steps down when he looked back up at Cas to say goodbye. That was a mistake of course, because he ended up right back inside.

Dean smiled sheepishly and Cas laughed. Dean stared a moment too long. It was the first time Cas had laughed, or truly smiled in Dean’s presence. 

Dean was the one to apologize this time. “Sorry, I just wanted to say that I won’t tell anyone, about you or the tower.”

Cas’s smile returned. “I know.”

“Okay,” Dean said. He was blushing so he ducked his head. “Would it be all right, do you think, if I came back sometime?”

“To visit me?”

“Yeah.”

“I would like that very much, Dean. Just don’t bring anyone along, okay?”

“Of course, Cas.” He smiled and backed away, up over the ledge and onto the ladder. “And I won’t look up this time.”

For the rest of the week, Castiel was buzzing with excitement. He could not sit still. How could he? He had an actual, real-life friend! He had a friend who was coming back. 

Eventually his excited energy turned to nerves. What if Dean was followed? What if someone saw him? And Castiel was beside himself at the thought that Dean might actually come back and spend more time in the tower of his own free will. Oh God, what if he came back? And what if he didn’t?

As the days passed into another week Castiel decided Dean would probably not return, so there was nothing to get worked up over. He was lying in bed when he heard his name called through the window. He shot up so fast it made his head spin. Just when he had given up on his friend, Dean showed up. In seconds he was looking at him and then Dean was inside, smiling brightly.

“Heya, Cas, sorry if it’s early. I just remembered what you said about the daylight and thought this might be best. I checked around, too, in case anyone was out there.”

“That was thoughtful,” Cas said dubiously. “But now you’ll have to stay all day.”

Dean nodded. “That’s the plan.”

They cooked breakfast together – some porridge concoction that Cas proclaimed was his favorite. They sat at the small kitchen table. There were two chairs, one on each side, and the measly set up made Dean pause for a moment. He smiled at Cas across the table and pretended to enjoy the food. It got stuck to the roof of Dean’s mouth. 

After that they tinkered around with some springs, trying to get a miniature trap set up. Cas had been working on it for days, trying out different settings. 

Along with his contraptions, Cas had some pictures lined up on his dresser, and a small figurine of a horse with golden hair. Castiel noticed Dean staring at it, the only painted wood among the bunch and that was simply because Cas hadn’t made it himself. 

“My mother used to love horses. Her parents owned a whole bunch of them. When she left home, she took one with her. It’s there in that picture of her.”

Dean picked up the framed photograph. Castiel tensed to have someone holding it, but Dean passed it quickly into Cas’s own hands.

“No way!” he said, excited. “That’s my horse.”

Dean tapped the glass and Castiel frowned down at it. “It’s my mother horse, Nester, and her there beside it.”

“See that mark on her ear, and the spot on her shoulder? I’m telling you that’s my horse. My parents bought her when I was real young.”

“Oh,” Cas said softly. “My father sold it when we came here.” 

“That’s cool. It’s like fate.” Dean smiled. He took in Cas’s downturned expression and hesitated before placing an arm on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Cas?”

“What do you call her now?”

“Um…Snowflake. My brother was two years old and named her.”

Cas scoffed. “That’s a ridiculous name for a horse.”

“Take it up with Sammy,” Dean said. He glanced back down at the picture. “Hey, if you want I could bring her with me next time. You know if you want to see her?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Dean.”

“Well, why don’t you come back with me? It’d be safer because it won’t draw attention to the tower.”

“I can’t leave, Dean. We can’t just leave the ladder out and I wouldn’t be able to get back in.”

Dean opened his mouth and then closed it, forgoing an argument. “How did that work anyway? I mean how’d you get up here in the first place?”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “There was a door when my father built the place. Once it was finished, and we were inside, he paved it over. He grew moss up the sides to cover it.” 

“Practical and decorative.”

Cas did that thing where his eyes smiled, but his face remained neutral. “I suppose it is.”

The light was pouring through the window, illuminating both their faces. Cas’s eyes were bright blue and Dean was mesmerized, sitting right beside him, when he looked so happy. Dean was used to Cas and his staring habit, but he was never the one to initiate it. He watched as Cas’s eyes grew a little wider. His own eyes darted down to Cas’s lips. 

“Castiel.”

Dean jumped and Cas fumbled back onto his feet at the sound of someone calling his name outside. Castiel went right to the window, almost looking back at Dean, but thinking better of it. 

“It’s my father. Quick, hide!”


	6. Who Sent You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel's father catches Dean in the tower.

Dean never claimed to be a brilliant man, but he felt pretty darn stupid sprawled on the floor behind Castiel’s bed, body half-hidden beneath the mattress. He could hear Cas talking to his father not five feet away. His own breathing sounded far too loud and his arm was starting to fall asleep. This was not cool, not cool at all. 

“You’re back early,” Cas said. 

“Right on time, actually. I stocked extra in the pantry just in case.”

“Oh.”

“Not happy to see me, Castiel? I brought you a gift.” 

“I, um…” Cas’s eyes darted to where Dean was hidden behind the bed. He could swear he saw the comforter twitching. 

“Is someone here?” Chuck demanded, horrified.

“No!” 

But Dean chose that moment to peak his head up an inch, and Castiel caught him staring. Now at his side, Dean moved closer to Castiel, because his father was coming at him and he looked absolutely furious. Chuck was red-faced and nearly shaking. 

“Who sent you? Zachariah?”

“No, no one sent me.”

“What do you want, why are you here?”

“Father,” Castiel interjected. He stepped between the two men. “He’s my friend.”

“No town-man can be your friend, Castiel.”

Cas nearly smiled. “He’s not a town-man, he’s a thief. He does not follow Zachariah.”

Chuck glared, moving his stare from one man to the other and stopping on his son. “Perhaps he’s here to steal you, then. Did you ever think of that?”

Dean stepped forward. “I would never hurt him.”

Castiel met his eyes and suddenly Dean was another step forward. Chuck watched the interaction with accusing eyes.

“You’re here, you are hurting him. Castiel, I forbid you from bringing him here again. And, you,” he pointed at Dean. “If you care about him at all you will stay away, and not draw attention to the tower.”

“Father, I live here of my own free will and you will not dictate who I see.”

“Castiel, it’s too dangerous…”

“Dean is not a danger to us. He came early, before the sun, and only leaves after its dark.”

“I don’t think it’s smart, for either of you,” Chuck said. He sighed and looked at Dean, appraising. The boy seemed innocent, enough, but having him here was an attack to Castiel’s safety. For the moment, he relented. “But we have a while to wait yet before the sun sets. Have you eaten?”

Cas nodded, eyes downcast. “Yes, but I could make you something.”

“No, that’s all right. I’ll do it.” He glanced between the two of them and then gestured to the room at large. “Carry on.” 

Cas grinned a little and went back to the dresser. He looked at Dean, to pull him forward. The air in the small room was tense, and Dean had never felt so awkward before in his life. Castiel moved closer, brushing up against him arm. He held up a small figurine car in his hand. “This was the first one I made move. See?”

The car was like an unfinished kid’s toy, the one that pulled back on its wheels to move forward. Dean grabbed it when it reached the end of the desk and repeated the motion. The movement was a little shaky, and the wheels favored one side. 

“You know, I could show you how to stop the wheels from sticking,” Dean offered. “I fix my wagon up all the time.”

Castiel’s eyes lit up and Dean took that as confirmation. They set to work taking apart the miniature contraption. 

Chuck watched them while he ate toast and jam from the armchair. As surprised and worried as he had been about Dean’s arrival, he had to admit it was nice to see Castiel had a friend. Chuck didn’t come home as often as he liked, he needed money from odd jobs and he was scared to draw attention to his son. He often worried the boy would get lonely. 

Castiel looked up and met his father’s eyes across the room. He smiled. Chuck’s eyes softened. He sighed quietly to himself. He knew nothing good could come of this. After all the problems in his life, he was no longer an optimistic man. 

Still, he kept his mouth shut throughout the day and at an early dinner when the three men cooked some beans and vegetables Chuck had brought home with him. When everything was plated, they stood in a line in front of the cabinets, staring at the kitchen table which only had two chairs. 

Castiel coughed. “I’ll…um…just pull over the armchair.”

“Let me help,” Dean said. So they carried it over to the table and Cas promptly sat down. Dean smirked and brought him his plate. When he leaned down he whispered in Cas’s ear. “Relax, Cas.”

But Cas was tensed, waiting for his father to start yelling and scare Dean into never coming back. Castiel really did not want that to happen. As dinner progressed, though, Chuck never said a word. Not a word, they were completely silent. Castiel decided that might be worse. 

He took the empty plates when they finished and brought them to the counter. He could wash them later. He glanced back out the window, forlorn to see how dark it had gotten. Dean was watching him, he met his eye and the two were standing side by side. 

Chuck huffed and then he was beside them, too.

“Time to go, Dean.”

“Yeah, I know, but…just so we’re clear, I’m coming back. Until Cas tells me not to, I’ll keep visiting him, but I promise to be careful. I won’t tell anyone.”

Chuck stared at Dean until the younger man started fidgeting. This felt nothing like the way Cas stared at him, this was an accusation. 

Eventually, Cas stepped in. “Father?”

“I can’t stop him,” he relented.

Cas smiled encouragingly at Dean and went to fetch the ladder. They stood by the window together. Chuck tried to give them a little privacy in the tiny space. He went to gather his beddings from the tall cupboard in the corner of the makeshift kitchen.

Dean glanced back at Chuck before leaning hesitantly into Castiel with his arms up. It took him a second to realize what Dean was doing, his social skills were rusty. But Castiel returned the hug eagerly. 

“How long will your…uh, dad be staying?” Dean whispered. Castiel like the way his breath tickled his skin. Having Dean so close felt nice.

Castiel chuckled. “A week? Probably less.”

“I’ll be back in a week then, give you two some space.”

“Thank you, Dean.” Cas pulled back. He double checked that the ladder was secure and helped Dean over the windowsill.

“See ya, Cas,” Dean smiled close to Castiel’s face. 

“Don’t look up,” Cas reminded him. He waited in the window until Dean was safely on the ground. Then he pulled up the ladder and watched until Dean was hidden in the forest depths. He took a moment before he turned back to his father. He was surprised Chuck hadn’t called him back all ready. It wasn’t safe to stand where people could see him. He was taking unnecessary risks.


	7. Red Handkerchief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whenever Crowley calls, Dean comes running.

Jess and Sam were doing laundry in the yard. Sam had to carry buckets of water from the kitchen sink out to the wooden tub. In the wintertime they had to do laundry in the bathroom, so the space was cramped and it took forever to wash and dry everything. In the spring, though, laundry was Jess’s favorite. She liked being outside, and she liked when Sam would put his hands over hers in the water and help pull the clothes through the ringer. 

She leaned back into his warmth and he pressed his head closer into her neck. The sun felt nice, beating down on them overhead. 

Dean was standing in the kitchen. He could see them through the dusty window over the sink. Pleased as he was to see his little brother happy, he really was, the sight left him feeling hollow. 

He hadn’t come up with a cover story for why he had been gone randomly for days at a time. Sam and Jess did the usual precursory questions, but they didn’t pry too deep. They knew what Dean did for money, after all. It upset him a little to let them believe this was about thieving. Cas wasn’t something bad or wrong or immoral. He shouldn’t have to hide him. 

Cas was great actually, brilliantly smart and funny, a little awkward but that was to be expected being trapped in a tower forever. Dean found himself missing the guy. And thus, the week went by very slowly. But when seven days had finally passed, he woke up early and crept down the stairs. His attempts to be sneaky were for naught, however. Jess was sitting in the living room with her loom. 

She looked up, startled. Dean stared back at her from the foot of the stairs with a guilty expression.

“Going somewhere?”

Dean clicked his tongue. “Uh, no?”

“I need you to come to the market today. The loom broke and Sam patched it up with tape, but we’re going to need a new piece. I’m sorry to put this pressure on you, Dean, but we really need the money.”

“No, yeah, I got it. I’ll get my tools.” He gestured back up the stairs with his thumb.

“Have some breakfast first and we’ll leave in an hour.”

“Sounds good.”

“Thank you, Dean,” Jess called after him, and she sounded so relieved Dean couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad. He could go to the tower tomorrow, Cas wouldn’t miss him. 

Of course, the next day that plan was thwarted as well. He woke up to find a red cloth in their back window. That was the signal that Crowley wanted to meet. Dean sighed and went back upstairs to get dressed. He flew by Sam and Jess at the kitchen table, ignoring their offers of breakfast. Crowley was not a patient man. Whenever Crowley called, Dean came running. But with Cas on his mind, and a delayed visit, it was starting to feel like a sacrifice. 

He walked briskly to the far side of town to the river where the two men always met. There was a road bridge intersecting it, so they could hide along the riverbank in case anyone came too close. Crowley was waiting for him when he got there. 

The man smiled. “Dean, good to see you! Enjoying your time off?”

“I was hoping it would last a little longer.”

“Oh, come now, I’ve got exciting plans for you.” He held up a little silk sack and jingled it so the coins inside clacked against one another. He tossed the bag at Dean’s chest. “The usual amount upfront.” 

Dean caught it with one hand and scratched the back of his neck. He looked up. “What do you need, Crowley?”

“It’s a plant, Holsbane, little green thing. It’s hidden in some dark corner of that insipid castle. You need to dig it up by the roots, that’s important.”

“The roots?”

“Yes, that’s the good bit. That’s what I need.” 

“Is it for healing? That’ll be in the apothecary.”

“No, not for healing,” Crowley said. “Have you ever seen a place in the castle, highly guarded, where no one ever seems to enter?”

Dean kicked at the dirt beneath his feet, thinking. “I mean, the Book of Angels was pretty heavily guarded, with a bunch of other old looking crap. There were guards on the door.”

“Yes, but this will have no guards at all. No entry, strictly prohibited. Notice anything like that?”

“I don’t exactly stop and look around. But, yeah, maybe, up by the King’s quarters. There’s a wing where no ever goes. I escaped that way last time, to avoid the guards, and there was a big black door at the end of the hall. You think that’s where this plant is?”

“I would bet your life on it,” Crowley smirked. “I need it in two weeks. I’ll meet you at the pub in Purgatory.”

“But…”

“I really must be going, my guy is fetching the horses. I’ll see you in two weeks, Dean. I’d hate to have to come and find you myself.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Dean went home and dove headfirst into research. He had a bunch of blueprints of the castle he used to plans he routes in and out, and he went over them again and again. He found out as much as he could about Holsbane. He went to the market with Jess. He came home and cooked dinner with Sam. His family needed him, and whenever he needed to be reminded of that he could just look at their lack of food, or the broken loom, or the few animals they were able to keep and care for.

His head was full of a million different concerns. He didn’t want to be selfish. He tried not to think about Cas and how much he missed the blue-eyed man in the tower. He tried really, really hard not to think about that. 


	8. Break and Enter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean breaks into the castle.

Thinking fast is an important ability to have as a thief. His dad had taught him, as a kid, when they needed food or money for something. Stealing from people’s homes had always left him with an uneasy feeling in his gut. So he moved on to bigger and more dangerous jobs when it was just him and Sammy. His brother went the other route, getting a respectable job and taking night classes at the school in town. 

But breaking into castles and vaults made him feel a completely different sort of unease. The jobs got his adrenaline pumping. Home burglaries usually didn’t end with him bursting through a window with bullets firing off from behind. It was something Dean could never really get used to. 

He learned early on how important it was to have a guy on the inside, someone to watch out for you and who knew the lay of the land. Dean had gathered quite a few contacts over the years, in many important places. 

A family friend of his father’s, Bobby, worked maintenance at the Palace. On the day of the job, he would leave a window to the basement opened so Dean could come up through the kitchen. 

After that, Dean knew where to go in the castle. He had planned his routes in and out. He would have to tackle the black door once he got to it and saw the warding.

He found Bobby waiting for him in the stairwell to the main floor. 

“You’re late, boy.”

“Sorry, Bobby, I got held up in town.”

“Someone saw you coming this way?”

“No, it was just Benny. I headed him off down the road.”

“Good. What’s your plan?”

“I need to find a way into the vault near the King’s chambers.” 

Bobby frowned. “That’s a touch spell. You need a fingerprint.”

“Whose?”

“Only three people have that kind of privilege – the King, the Queen, and their right hand, Uriel.”

“Naomi’s probably the easiest to transport, but Uriel would be the easiest to get to,” Dean whispered. “I need to hurry.”

“Transport?”

“What time’s breakfast?”

Bobby looked down at his watch. “In half an hour.”

Dean knelt down and dug through his backpack. He held up a little box to Bobby. “Do you think you could get this in King and Queen’s food?”

“I’ll get it to Ellen.”

Dean breathed deeply. Sometimes he had to remind himself to inhale. “Thanks, Bobby.”

The two men stiffened when they heard someone coming up behind them in the stairwell. Dean kept his back to them and fidgeted with his hood. Bobby glanced at the person over his head.

“Morning, Rufus,” he muttered.

“Bobby. Up to something?”

“Nothing to bother you with, idjit. Get going, come on now.” He traced the man with his eyes as he walked away and then turned back to Dean. “Her tray will be brought up to her room. You gotta find a place to hide up there so the maid don’t see you.”

“I got it, Bobby. Thanks,” he said. 

They walked briskly up the stairs. Bobby turned right off to the kitchen. Dean darted into the main corridor, keeping to one side away from the windows which looked down on the front yard. A few people passed him, but there were so many workers in the castle that no one paid him any mind. The trouble would be getting to the Royals’ wing. 

He pulled his hood up over his face, just in case anyone did come by and spot him. Being seen was less detrimental than having his identity exposed. He left the fabric just low enough that his eyes peeked over the top. 

The Royals’ wing was a long, dark hallway which made a ninety-degree angle halfway down. He rushed to the intersection, stopping just after the bend in the shadows. The opposite side of the hall had windows with the drapes still closed. It left the floor in a glowing darkness which gave Dean just enough light to see where he was going. 

There were no doors along this hall, not until he reached the end, and no alcoves to duck into. Where was he supposed to hide while the maid’s delivered the food? 

He made it to the black door of the vault without running into anyone. That was sort of a perk of breaking in somewhere no one was supposed to be. He was a few steps away from the King’s suite. There was a third door across the hall, bright red with black accents. He tried the door handle but it was locked and then he was out of options, and out of time. He heard the wheels of a food cart at the end of the hallway. He stood beside the window, half-hidden in the drapes. But they weren’t long, or opaque enough to hide him. 

When the maid turned the corner, she looked right at him, squinting. She was young, and thin. Dean rushed at her, pulling her back before she could even make a noise and covering her mouth with his hand. He held her to his chest and pulled out the handcuffs he kept in his pocket. He took her down the second half of the hallway, so no one passing by would see her and come to investigate. He closed one cuff on her wrist and the other up on the bar of the window. 

He released her for a moment and tied a gag around her mouth so she couldn’t call for help. She looked frantic. 

Dean took a step back. “Someone will find you soon,” he said.

With that, he took the cart and pulled down his hood. He hesitated just outside the door. He had no idea what the protocol for serving food was. They would probably realize that right away. He looked back at the maid, who had ceased struggling in her bonds. She was staring at him. 

He had to hurry, or someone would probably come looking for her. 

He went back and unlatched her wrists, pulling her back to the main corridor. He hid her behind the curtain and reattached her wrist to the bar overhead. She wasn’t completely hidden, but it was better than nothing. He went back to the King’s door and pushed the cart aside. He took a deep breath, knocked twice loudly, and sprinted back around the bend in the hall. 

With baited breath, he waited for the telltale sign of the door opening. Then the wheels squeaked as the tray was rolled inside. At that sound, he started his clock. It would take only five minutes for the sleeping pill to kick in, five long, anxious minutes.


	9. Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean escapes from the castle and goes straight to Cas.

Dean was in the vault. The room was larger than he’d imagined it would be and there were too many plants to search through, all small and green in pots. He had done his research, though. Holsbane had pointy leaves, with a waxy texture. The roots would be green as well, which was rare, so if it came down to it Dean could just tear all the roots from their planters.

Naomi’s sleeping form was huddled near the door. Dean searched the shelves upon shelves of plants. There was one that sort of looked right, but he wanted to be sure. He kept searching. 

Naomi started to stir, mumbling incoherently. Dean’s eyes snapped from her back to the plant. He hastily pulled up the leaves of his best contender to expose the roots. He threw it to the ground with increasing panic – not green, not green, not green! And then he found it. 

He grabbed the little planter and shoved the entire thing in his pocket. He stood Naomi up by the arms and dragged her with him while he went to pry open the vault door.

Zachariah’s groggy, furious face met him on the other side. Dean swore and pushed Naomi’s body into the King’s arms with enough force to send them both stumbling backwards. Dean raced down the hallway, but Zachariah wasn’t far behind. Dean made it to the grand hallway, and to the staircase before the shouting started. 

“Stop him!” Zachariah commanded. Everyone started running at him. 

Dean took one look back, at the guards in silver armor advancing on him, and slid down the handrail of the staircase. He jumped off at the bottom and bolted for the doors. 

Guards stood at attention outside. He ran to one end of the property, hoping to escape the garden before they rounded in on him. He barely made it, he could hear the guns ringing out behind him and they were still hot on his trail. He pulled his backpack higher up to block their attack. He knew he just had to make it the street market, then the bullets would stop and the real chase would begin.

The crowds parted easily for the massive number of guards barreling down the road. The guards let off a few more rounds of their guns, but they died down soon enough because of the civilians. Dean couldn’t afford to glance back or he would lose his focus. He kept his head down, only looking up to try to find an alley to turn down. The guards on horseback kept cutting him off. Dean caught a quick glance of Jess up ahead, standing beside the wagon, watching in horror. 

Dean ran faster. He had gotten a little bit of a lead by the time he reached the forest, and it was a relief to be in the trees. He immediately turned eastward. Behind him, he heard the cavalry split into thirds, to chase every direction.

After half a mile Dean stopped. He had to run slower in the forest, and he was losing energy as well as his lead. He ducked behind a tree, laying low in an area with thick shrubbery. He heard the hoof beats and voices pass him moments later. After a few minutes calming down his pulse, he stood up and moved briskly the way he had been heading, straight for the tower. 

He never stopped to consider whether that was a good idea or not, he just knew that was where he wanted to be. He almost smiled when he made it to the white, stone formation. He looked up at the window. 

“Castiel!”

The man was smiling when his head poked out the window. And he was still smiling when Dean was in front of him, surging forward to wrap him in a hug.

“Are you all right, Dean? You’re sweating.” 

“I…uh,” he leaned forward, out of breath. He pulled his hood down, so he could breathe better. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “They were chasing me.”

Cas’s eyes went wide, searching out the window for an instant and then staring imploringly at Dean. “Who? Were you followed?”

“No, no, don’t worry. I waited until they were gone.”

“Did they recognize you?” Cas squinted, searching Dean’s face.

“Nah, I think I’m good.”

“Good,” Cas whispered. He sounded a little breathless now, too. The two men stood in front of each other, barely blinking. Cas swallowed audibly. Dean smiled a little. After a breath, they both started laughing uncontrollably, leaning into each other, and they were breathless all over again. Cas wiped at his eyes. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” Dean muttered. He sat back on the floor, with his knees up. He glanced up at Cas while he regained his breath and his tone turned serious. “And I’m sorry I haven’t been back sooner. I meant to, really, there was just a lot going on.”

“Oh, it’s all right. I understand.” Cas looked down. 

That just made Dean feel even worse, and maybe it was the adrenaline talking but he shook his head. “No, it’s really not. I missed you, Cas.” 

Cas smiled and glanced up. He sank gracefully to his knees across from Dean. “I missed you, too.”

Cas set up a bath for Dean and started preparations from dinner. When Dean was clean, he helped Cas cook. 

All too soon for either of them, Dean and Castiel were full from dinner and the sun had set. Castiel had learned how to distinguish the changing colors of darkness in the tower to tell them time. Dean glanced out the window from the kitchen table. 

“Time to go?” Cas asked softly.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Will you come back soon?”

“I need to go meet my client in Purgatory. Drop off the goods. But I can come here on my way back, if you want.” Dean clasped his hands together on the table and stared down at them.

Cas reached forward and placed his hand on top. “I would like that very much. But it will take you hours to get to Purgatory. You’re going to travel in the woods overnight?”

“I have to be there tomorrow, I don’t have time to go home.”

“Stay here,” Castiel said, retracting his hand. He stood up and took the empty dishes to the sink. He looked back at Dean so they could wash them together. They stood side by side, the offer hanging unanswered between them. 

Dean put the second dry plate back in the cupboard. He wondered, for a split second, if he could get away with not answering at all. He wanted to stay, God knows he did. But he wanted more from Cas than he knew how to ask for. Something about saying it out loud made his throat close up. Thief though he may be, Dean could be an awfully big coward. 

Cas watched him, expectantly. 

“Where does your Dad sleep, when he’s here?” he finally settled on. He could stay and be Cas’s friend and nothing more. 

Cas pointed to the tall cupboard beside him. “There’s bedding and a fold out cot there. It’s surprisingly comfortable.” He hesitated. “But I’d prefer if you’d stay with me.”

He walked to the bed, like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on their whole friendship, relationship, whatever it was. Dean’s head was spinning. Castiel sat on the edge of the mattress, looking down at his bare feet. He rarely wore shoes. Dean had never noticed before. Okay, now he was just being evasive. 

“In your bed?” he squeaked.

Cas looked up, then readjusted his gaze when Dean was standing right in front of him. 

“If you’d like.”


	10. They Definitely Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas asked Dean to spend the night.

Dean tossed and turned in bed. Castiel knew enough about romance, and at least comfortable sleeping habits, to know that something was wrong. He opened one eye, trying to be inconspicuous. Dean wasn’t paying attention to him anyway. 

He opened both eyes. “Dean.”

“Yeah?” he whispered back. He turned again. 

Cas nearly growled. “You can get the cot if you want.” 

Dean rolled again, this time to face Cas. His cheeks were tinged red. Cas studied him, curiously, and Dean stared back. His father told him once that the staring wasn’t normal, and that after the curse was gone he’d have to stop, but Dean never seemed to mind it like normal people should. So Cas kept staring. But Dean still wasn’t saying anything. 

Cas sighed inaudibly and leaned forward into Dean’s space, eyes closer to his eyes. Dean tracked his movements. He looked a little apprehensive but he didn’t move back. Cas surged forward and kissed him swiftly on the cheek. The barely noticeable blush on Dean’s face grew brighter. 

“Cas?” Dean whispered. They were staring in closer proximity, now, sharing the air between them. 

“Yes?”

Dean let out a large breath that blew out on Cas’s cheek. “It’s not that I don’t want to be here, with you, in your bed. I want to. I want to…kiss you and all that, but I feel like I’m taking advantage.” 

“Why?”

“You’ve never been out in the world, okay?” Dean closed his eyes. “You don’t know what other people are like or that I’m…well, I was going to say ordinary, but I guess I’m worse than that. I’m a criminal. I’ve got no money. And maybe you don’t know this yet, but you could do a lot better than me.” 

The look Cas was giving him could only be described as a glare. “Go to sleep, Dean. You’re irritating.”

“What?”

Cas turned his glared toward the ceiling. “I’m a criminal, too, remember. So you’re insulting both our characters, and my aptitude. I’m going to chalk it up to your mild exhaustion, so stop moving around and go to sleep.”

“Cas, I…

“Shut up, just shut up, okay? I asked you to stay and you said yes. If you had reservations, this would have been a good conversation to have before we got in bed and I kissed you.”

A blush rose on Cas’s cheeks. Dean could see it even in the dark, and though it was probably just a reaction to anger, Dean felt humbled by it. Castiel wanted him here, in his life and in his bed. Dean scooted closer.

“Cas. Cas?” he whispered. He waited for the blue eyes to meet his and he felt that familiar jolt in his stomach. “You know, that wasn’t a proper kiss before. And it would be a waste to spend a whole uninterrupted night together without having a proper kiss.”

“It would,” Cas agreed hesitantly. 

Cas’s tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. Dean’s eyes tracked the movement and then slid back up to meet Castiel’s stare. He smiled, a little breathless. “Will you kiss me again, Cas?”

“On your lips?” Dean nodded. Cas turned his head, but he couldn’t keep his eyes away for long, not with Dean staring at him intently. “I’ve never…”

“It’s easy. It’s just…” he whispered, leaning closer. He kissed the edge of Cas’s mouth on one side, “And…” then the other.

Cas followed him when he pulled back and he stopped, letting Cas kiss him firmly. When he smiled they both broke apart. But it wasn’t long before Cas moved back in, more aggressively this time, and pulled himself up over Dean. 

They fell asleep like that, Cas’s body on top of his and limbs tangled together. It was warm there. Cas had always thought the tower felt a little drafty at night, no matter how many blankets he piled onto the mattress, but Dean was all warmth. Castiel slept soundly. 

Dean left the next morning before the sun rose. After untangling from Cas, he leaned down to push back his dark hair and kissed him on the forehead. Cas’s eyes scrunched up and opened a crack. 

“Are you leaving?” he whispered, deep voice still hoarse with sleep. 

“Yeah, go back to sleep. I’ll be home in a few days.” 

Cas smiled, sleepily. “Hurry. It’s lonely without you.” Cold, he had meant to say cold. 

Dean paused beside the window, waiting for Cas to startle at his own words and wake up, but he didn’t. He took the ladder in his hands, and when he was over the windowsill he looked back at the man on the bed. 

“Don’t look up,” he whispered, because he figured that was how they said goodbye. 

He was on cloud nine the entire journey to Purgatory. Even dealing with Crowley was a lot easier than usual. The man seemed impressed that Dean had actually pulled off the job, so that put them both in better moods. 

Dean left with a light spirit and a pocket full of money. He shopped around Purgatory, buying some groceries before he made his way back to the tower. He didn’t have much to spare, but he decided to do something nice for Cas – his boyfriend, tower-friend, whatever he was. 

Even their lack of a definition did nothing to discourage Dean’s mood. He kissed Cas as soon as his feet touched the wood floor. 

Only when he had to leave at nightfall did his smile waver slightly. 

“I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered against Cas’s neck.

“Then don’t.”

“I have to, Sammy will worry. I haven’t been home in a while and the last time Jess saw me I was being chased out of town.”

“But no one else knows it was you, right?”

“No, I don’t think they know.”

Cas smiled and kissed him one last time before pushing him toward the window. “Good. Come back soon.”

“I will. I’ll be back in three days.”

They set up the ladder together and kissed over the windowsill. Cas whispered it against his lips this time. “Don’t look up.”

The town seemed quiet when he reached the end of the forest. It seemed like a lifetime ago he had last set foot inside the borders. So much had changed in just a few days. He took the familiar road home. Half a mile away he smelled smoke. Closer, he could see it billowing up to the sky and then the glow of a fire. He started running. Jess and Sam turned when they heard him coming. 

“What happened?” he yelled. 

“Dean, oh my God, we thought you were dead. They know, Dean, they know it was you. The guards came on horseback, they through torches.”

Sam hugged Dean tight and spoke through tears.

Jess patted him arm. “I’m so glad to see you.”

The three turned to stand in a line and watch their house burn. There was nothing they could do for it now. Sam had already tied the livestock to a post across the street and nothing inside was of any value. Dean and Sam carried all the money they had. 

But Dean thought about all the photographs burning in that house. He stared blankly at it. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, to no one in particular.

Sam grabbed his arm. “This is not your fault, Dean. We were all a part of this. You were doing the dangerous stuff, but it was for all of us.”  
Dean nodded woodenly. 

“Correction,” he muttered aloud. “They definitely know.”


	11. Not Such a Fairy Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the Kingdom has found out his identity, Dean decides he needs to leave town.

The Winchesters didn’t have any water source outside the house, so their only options were to sit and wait for the flames to die down, or to leave their house to ruin. There was no one to call. If this had been ordered by the Kingdom, no one would be allowed to intervene.

“It’s just a house,” Sam said. So, the three of them turned away. They stood with the animals. 

“Where will we go now?” Jess whispered. She had a handful of clothing clutched to her chest, none of which probably belonged to her. She needed things to sell at market. Sam started unlatching the sheep. 

“Go to Benny’s,” Dean said. “You’re not criminals. If anyone comes for you, you say you had no idea what I was doing.”

“Dean…”

“Sam, you have to. And if they want you to make a public announcement and denounce me, you will, okay? Don’t give any details or my clients might be after you, too. You keep your family safe.”

“You’re a part of this family, Dean.”

“Right now, I’m not. I need to leave town.” Dean pulled the bag of money Crowley had paid him out of his pocket. “I’m sorry. This is all I have to give you. Do you think you can get all the animals across town by yourselves?”

“Yes, Dean, we can handle it,” Jess said. “We’ll be fine. But where will you go?”

Dean looked down at his shoes. How had this all gone to shit? All his life he had tried to protect his family, but he hadn’t been able to protect anyone. He needed to go check on Cas. And now, more than ever, he really needed to tell the truth about it. 

“I need to go back to the tower,” he said, with as much conviction as he could muster.

Sam looked rightfully confused. This was new information to him. Jess, on the other hand, looked downright pissed. Dean glanced at her. 

“Dean, you went to the tower?” Jess scolded. 

“Yeah, but I was wrong, okay? It really is a fairy tale.”

“Is that where you’ve been going for days at a time?” Sam asked. 

Dean nodded. “There’s a guy who lives there. He’s…great, he’s amazing. I wish you could have met him.”

“Dean,” Sam said urgently, sensing the finality in his brother’s tone. “You’ll come back, okay? Things will settle down and you’ll come back.”

Dean nodded again, stronger this time, though it was the opposite of how he felt. He had to be strong and let go for his brother and his wife. “Yeah, it might not be for a while so don’t look out for me, but I’ll be back. Gonna have to meet my nieces and nephews, right? You two will be knocking them out any day now.”

“Right,” Jess said quietly. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears, but her voice was steady. Jess was a strong woman. 

“Good, good. I better get going. You guys, too.” Dean smiled. His head was spinning, but at least he had a plan. He was good with plans. Check on Cas and then get the hell out of dodge. He couldn’t keep hurting the people he loved. Jess hugged him quickly, and then Sam. Dean pulled away when his brother tried to hold on. “Sell the horse if you need more cash. I know she’s old, but Bobby will buy her off you. And, uh…tell him her name’s Nester, okay? It was her first name.”

“Sure, Dean.”

He turned to the horse, patted her twice, and backed away. He turned on his heel and all but ran to the forest. He kept his eyes shut until he hit the trees.

He moved quickly, panic building the closer he got to the tower. What if someone had gotten to Cas? He could see the tower, tall and stoic as ever in the clearing. He sprinted to it. 

“Castiel!”

The force of his relief when he spotted blue eyes in the window took his breath away. He panted when he fell to his knees in front of the other man. Cas watched him, worried, and kneeled with him on the floor. Dean threw his arms around him, trying his best not to burst into tears. Cas rocked them both gently and waited for an explanation. Dean couldn’t seem to find the words.

“Are you hurt?” Cas asked eventually. Dean shook his head. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“They know,” Dean croaked. “Zachariah. He knows it was me. He burned down my house, and I thought, I thought they might have gotten to you, too.”

“Dean, I’m fine,” Cas soothed, running his hand up and down Dean’s back. He was shaking in Cas’s arms. “Is your brother okay?”

“Yeah, him and Jess got out okay. And Nester and the sheep.”

“Good,” Cas breathed.

Dean pulled back an inch. “I need to leave, Cas.”

“You can’t.” Cas blinked.

“I’ve done a lot of bad things, Cas. I…They’ll find me. They’ll hurt you.”

Cas shook his head, desperately. He wasn’t beyond begging. “You can’t leave me. Not now. I didn’t know what it was before, how it felt to have a person. But now I do, and it’s you, and you can’t take that away from me. Please.”

“I don’t want to leave you.” It was a broken echo of the words he had spoken the day before. Yesterday he had been filled with hope, and today he saw no way out. 

“I’m a fugitive, too, and I’ve hidden here for nineteen years. No one would find you here.”

Dean looked away. “I don’t know, Cas. I’m not very good at hiding.”

“Please,” Castiel said. “Just try.”

Dean leaned forward and kissed him. Cas raised his eyebrows, waiting. “Okay, I’ll try.”

Living there was fine for a while, it felt just like any other visit. 

But staying in the tower all day, every day began to feel like torture. Castiel tried to understand, for the most part, and let Dean wallow. He had grown up there, after all. He didn’t know life any other way. He hoped Dean would acclimate. 

Dean had grown up in the world, in his yard, riding Nester and playing with his brother. When he was older, he had become a petty thief with his dad, and then later he went to the big leagues, stealing from Kingdoms. The profession was dangerous, constantly. His life was never boring. He missed his life, he missed his brother and Jess. 

So in the tower Castiel let him stay in bed. They cooked together. Then, Castiel went about his normal routine, reading and building things and drawing sketches. Dean stayed in bed. He kept his eyes closed so Cas wouldn’t accidentally pull him to the bookshelf or the kitchen. He tried to keep track of how many times the sunlight came in through the window, but eventually all the days blurred together. 

He had been in the tower at least a week when he stopped touching Cas at night. Another week later Cas stopped trying to make him.


	12. A New Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean hates living in the tower, but he wants to keep Cas safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to post anything tomorrow, so I'm putting up two chapters today! I hope you enjoy it! Next chapter will be up late on Sunday.

“Are you going to go?” Castiel asked, speaking to the dark room. He stared up at the wooden beams on the ceiling. He had read several books about religions and the universe and powers greater than himself. He wasn’t sure he believed in any of them, but he prayed for a miracle.

“What?” Dean whispered. 

“You said you were going to try, and you have, I know you have, but…” his voice cracked. 

“Cas.” 

They each turned toward the middle of the bed. Dean rested his hand against Cas’s hip, and Cas reveled in it, fearing he didn’t have many touches left. 

“You’re so unhappy,” he whispered back. 

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” Dean said. 

Cas leaned his forehead against Dean’s. “Really?”

“If I leave, I won’t go far. I’ll come back like I used to. And someday, when it’s safer for you, we’ll leave together.”

“You wouldn’t come back, Dean. After what happened with your home, you’d never feel safe enough to come visit me without being noticed,” Cas said. They stared at each other through the dark. 

Dean sighed. He stooped down to mouth at Cas’s neck. “Let’s not talk about it now. I’m not leaving tomorrow. We have time.” Cas shuddered and Dean looked up to meet his eyes. He smiled at the sensation in his stomach. “I love that feeling, when I look at you.”

He pulled himself up to loom over Cas. He dipped his head to press open-mouthed kisses to his shoulder, neck, and down his bare chest. Cas gasped. It had been days since Dean last kissed him. 

“What does it feel like?” Castiel asked. 

Dean looked up at his eyes. “Tingling. Warm. Static. Like magnets, or something, pulling me.” 

Cas dragged Dean back up by the hair to kiss his lips. He grabbed Dean by the hips to pull their bodies more firmly together. This was new territory for them, but neither of them was ready to slow down. Cas was the first to pull away from the kiss, breathless. He kept pecking at Dean’s neck, kissing between words. 

“I will miss you.”

Cas smiled, but Dean could see tears threatening to spill over. 

“Hey,” he whispered. He kissed beside each of Castiel’s eyes. “This is not goodbye sex, okay?”

“No, I know.” Cas shook his head. If a few more tears escaped throughout the night and Dean kissed them away, neither of them mentioned it. 

Cas woke up with sore muscles and an empty bed. He startled, looking first to the window and then to where Dean was standing in the kitchen. It was too much to ask that Dean hadn’t noticed his initial panic. His green eyes were studying him sadly, but they brightened when Dean was deposited so close to the bed that he fell back into it.

He laughed and leaned forward to peck whatever patch of Cas’s skin was closest, before getting back on his feet. “Get up, I’m making breakfast.”

“It’s late,” Castiel noticed.

“I let you sleep in,” Dean shrugged. “We had a long night.”

Cas came over to the counter and hugged Dean from behind. He hummed into the back of his neck. “We had a great night.”

Dean had made them eggs and bacon. They kept smiling up at each other across the table and Dean would have to return to his seat. Eventually, he just sat on Castiel’s lap while they fed each other from the rest of his plate. 

They almost finished their meal before the semblance of serenity came crashing down, in the form of a voice outside.

“Castiel!” the man sounded angry. 

Cas stood up, shooting a panicked look at Dean. They stood side by side. Dean braced Cas’s forearms in his hands and steered him back away from the window, making sure he faced the back wall.

“Stay here,” he said urgently. “No matter what you do, don’t look outside.”

Castiel nodded desperately. When Dean went to pull away he latched on again. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Cas mumbled. Dean shook his head.

“It’s not your fault, Cas. It’s probably mine okay?”

“Castiel!”

Dean glanced at the window and turned around again. “Cas, you gotta listen to me, okay? Everything will be fine. We’re safe up here. You’re safe,” Dean said. 

Castiel kept nodding his head, but he was shaking so hard Dean wasn’t sure he was even listening. He sat him down on the ground near the bookshelf, facing the kitchen. Dean’s heart was racing as he approached the window alone. 

He saw Uriel, the King’s right-hand man, standing out in the clearing. The man smiled up at Dean, nearly predatory. 

“Dean Winchester locked in a tower with Zachariah’s nephew. How nice, all my headaches in one convenient location.” Dean glared out the window. “I’ve got an offer for you, Dean.”

“Shove it!” Dean shouted back down.

Uriel laughed. “Give me Castiel and I will let you go. The King will forgive all your transgressions. You can go home.”

“Not a chance, Uriel.”

“You might reconsider. Your brother and friends are not faring well in your absence.”

Dean looked down at the floor. 

“Dean,” Cas whispered. “Dean you should go back.”

He shot a harsh look at Castiel. They stood on the other side of the room, facing each other. Dean’s jaw clenched. “I’m not giving you up, Cas.”

“It’s a good deal,” Cas insisted.

“It’s a horrible deal!”

“Dean, they’re your family.”

“You’re family, too.”

Cas searched Dean’s eyes, trying to work out an argument that would change his mind. He couldn’t just surrender himself, Dean would come fight for him. Besides, the man in the clearing was probably lying, and they would both end up dead. Cas bit down on his lip, relenting.

“So what do you propose?”

“I don’t know. He’s probably about to blow this whole place down.” 

Cas looked around, frantic. Dean rubbed his hands up and down his arms until Cas stopped feeling like he would faint on the spot. 

“It’s going to be fine,” Cas ground out, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as much as Dean. He played with his hands, considering their options. “We can do this. You tell him you’ll take the deal, and go down the ladder. Once you reach the bottom, I’ll look at him, and bring him up here.”

“No, Cas…”

“It’s fine. I’ll climb down the ladder after you and pull it with me.” 

Dean looked skeptical, but he had no counterplans. He looked down at his feet and then back up at Cas. For the first time since Uriel’s arrival, Cas was the calm one. Dean supposed everyone fared better when they had a plan to execute. 

He nodded once. “Okay, okay. But, Cas? I swear to God if you don’t run like hell when he’s up here I will come kill you myself.”

Cas smiled. “Duly noted.”

“Please,” Dean insisted. He pulled Cas in, tucking his head under his chin. “I could never leave you, don’t you leave me now.” 

Cas didn’t have it in him to answer. He went to fetch the ladder. Dean insisted on putting it in place by himself, in case Castiel accidentally looked outside. He took one look at the smug bastard in the clearing and wanted to back out of the whole thing. But Cas’s worried eyes were upon him, too, and this was their only chance. He tied the ladder tight enough to hold while he and Cas left the tower, but lose enough to pull out when necessary. 

He took a deep breath and projected his voice. “Uriel?”

“Yes?”

“I’m coming out. But I want your word that Sam, Jess, Benny, and Andrea will be safe.”

“Of course,” he said. “You’re making the right choice, you know. That boy’s curse killed his mother. He’s a danger to himself and everyone else.”

Dean looked up at Cas, whose expression was stricken all over again. Uriel laughed when Dean suddenly disappeared.

Dean whispered low in Cas’s ear. “He’s a liar.”

Cas nodded and pushed on Dean’s arm. He choked off a sob when Dean was halfway across the room. “Remember, don’t look up, don’t…”


	13. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Castiel attempt an escape from the tower.

Dean was halfway down the ladder and he seriously thought he might have a heart attack and fall to his death. He needed to save Cas, but otherwise death may have been preferable. He had done a hundred high-class jobs, but none of them had ever been as scary as waiting to see if Cas would make it out of that tower. 

He watched Uriel as his foot touched down on the soil. One minute the man was smiling, victoriously, the next minute he was gone. 

Dean looked up and saw Cas’s feet come over the windowsill a moment later. There was a scuffle, which shook the ropes of the ladder, but Cas must have pulled free. He moved down a few more steps. Uriel was handing out the window, a fist in Castiel’s shirt. He couldn’t move any farther. 

“Cas!” Dean screamed, thoughtlessly. Castiel didn’t look back, but his whole body tensed. There was nothing he could do, he couldn’t climb away. But Uriel didn’t seem strong enough to pull him back up, either. He wasn’t strong enough. “Cas, jump!”

He did. 

Dean watched as Cas fell from nearly the full height of the tower, and scrambled forward to try to break his fall. He hit like a freight train, and Dean absorbed some of the impact, but they both went tumbling to the ground. 

Cas groaned. 

“Cas?” Dean shook his shoulder. “Cas, are you all right?”

He rolled over off of Dean and pushed himself up. Relief swelled through him – Cas was alive. He was standing and alive. He stepped forward, testing out his weight. 

“Ow.”

Dean laughed lightly as Castiel limped forward. They both looked up when Uriel shouted from the top of the ladder. He was hanging upside down, one foot on the top wrung, even higher than where Castiel had fallen from. Castiel looked away before the man could meet his gaze and ran to the bottom of the ladder. With all his strength his pulled, and the wooden beams in the house creaked but didn’t break. Dean rushed to help him and the rope broke free. Dean pulled Castiel aside, to get out of the way of the man who came barreling toward the ground not three feet away from them. 

They stood up and looked at him. Blood began to pool in the grass beneath him body. Cas took a step back and Dean moved closer, examining. 

“Is he dead?” Cas asked. 

“I don’t know.”

“Dean?”

He didn’t look up. “Yeah?”

“Make sure he is.” 

Cas curled in on himself and turned away. He didn’t want to watch. There was only a slight hesitation before he heard the sickening crunch of a skull beneath a boot. 

Dean came up behind him and grabbed his waist, pulling him forward. “Come on, we have to move.”

Cas was limping a little, but he could still walk. Dean kept checking his face for any signs of pain. Instead of crying or screaming or any of the expected responses, all of a sudden, Cas started laughing. Dean looked at him sideways and that only made him laugh harder. 

“I’m sorry,” he panted. “I think I’m in shock or something. You know I’ve never felt grass. Or dirt. Or tree branches.”

“Shit, Cas! You’re barefoot.”

“Yes.”

Without further question, Dean hoisted him up over his shoulder. They could move faster this way, anyway. 

“I can walk fine, Dean,” Cas grumbled. 

“You can walk when we get on a road. We’ll have to be inconspicuous.”

In town they took the side roads that Dean knew so well. Benny’s house was in a more populated area. The two of them probably looked a mess, but no one stopped them or said anything. They walked briskly to the little green house in the middle of the street, with Dean carrying most of Cas’s weight. He knocked on the door and waited, scared to see what awaited them inside. 

Andrea opened the door, looking a little suspicious, but fine. Her frown deepened when she saw them, but she ushered them in and glanced outside before closing the door. 

“Benny!” she called. 

Benny, Sam, and Jess all came hesitantly into the living room. Jess looked worse for wear, face bruised and Dean could guess that the King’s people had gotten to her, but they all seemed fine, too. Dean released his breath. 

“Hey, guys. This is Cas.”

Everyone was staring at them. Dean wondered just how bad they both looked. But Jess smiled a little before she got teary. 

“Dean! I’m so sorry, they saw you go into the woods the day of the house fire, and they…I thought they were going to kill me, I thought they were going to kill Sam!”

Dean raised his hands. “It’s okay, Jess. I’m glad you’re okay. And we’re okay, sort of.”

Dean gestured to Cas, who was still hanging onto Dean’s side and barely standing on his left leg. Benny stepped forward to help Dean maneuver Cas to the couch. He sat down gratefully, hissing painfully when he tried to bend at the knee. 

“Where are you hurt?” Jess asked softly.

“I think he broke his leg,” Dean said, sitting beside him and propping the quickly-bruising leg up on his own knee. “He…fell from the tower.”

“Jumped,” Castiel interjected. His low voice seemed to startle them all into looking at him, except for Dean who was still staring down at his leg, concerned. He winced when Dean poked it. “I jumped from the tower.”

Dean chuckled and set his leg back down carefully. “Yeah, that wasn’t my brightest idea.”

Dean had mended enough of his own injuries to guess that Cas’s leg would be healed in a few weeks. 

“I don’t think it’s broken, but it’s going to be sore for a while.”

“I won’t be able to run,” Cas surmised.

Dean sighed. He looked over at Cas and then back up at the group. “We’ll have to leave soon. They’ll come here in the morning, if not tonight. But we’ll be gone by then.”

Benny and Andrea glanced at each other, dubious. Dean and Cas both looked about ready to pass out on the couch. Jess wouldn’t hear of that, though, and immediately offered up the room she and Sam had been staying in. Dean, for Cas’s sake, didn’t have the heart to refuse. They needed to rest for a few hours. 

He helped Cas stand up and walk slowly across the room. Everyone was watching them. Castiel hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, glancing back at Sam.

“What’s up, Cas?” Dean said. 

He was still looking at Sam when he answered, shyly, “Is Nester here?”

Dean looked at Sam for confirmation as well. His brother nodded. Dean smiled. “You can see her when we leave, Cas.” 

Sam came into their room three hours later to wake them. Cas tested out his weight while sitting on the bed and pretended not to listen to the conversation beside him. 

“We’re coming with you,” Sam said without preamble. 

“What? No?”

“Dean, you left us behind once before. It’s not going to happen again.”

“It’s not safe for you with me.”

“It’s not safe for us anywhere, anymore. They tortured my wife! We’re leaving, Dean, so you might as well take us with you.”

Cas could tell Dean wasn’t happy about it, especially when he pushed Sam from the room to continue arguing away from Cas. By the time they left, they had two new fugitives tagging along, but Sam was the one who looked put-out. Castiel decided it might be best not to ask.


	14. So Far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, Cas, Sam, and Jess try to skip town.

They were out in the woods when Sam and Jess witnessed Castiel’s power for the first time. The group had gone over Dean’s maps, decided on the next stopping point, and geared up to travel to a family-friend’s cottage on the outskirts of Purgatory. 

“Will there be people in the woods still looking for you?” Jess asked. 

“Probably,” Dean said. He glanced at Castiel. 

“We should split up then,” Sam said.

“No way.”

“They’re after you two. It makes more sense to have you travel apart, give you each a better shot.”

“Absolutely not,” Dean insisted. Splitting up seemed like a bad idea, but splitting up from Cas was completely out of the question. 

“Dean, it’s safer this way,” Cas said quietly. 

“Either way, we need to get going,” Jess said. She was getting antsy. Dean looked up at her, realizing that if he and Cas split up, Jess and Sam were splitting up as well. 

He sighed. “Cas, go with Sam.” 

Cas nodded and reached his hand out, hesitating, before he squeezed Dean’s fingers. He stood by Sam’s side and looked down at the shoes Benny had given him – they fit much better than Sam’s. 

Dean folded his map and shoved it back in his pocket. He pointed at his brother. “Okay, you know where you’re going?”

“Yes, Dean.”

“Ready?” he said to Jess. She nodded. When he looked at Cas, he was still looking at his shoes.

“All right,” Sam said, turning around. “Let’s go.”

Dean backed away in the opposite direction. Cas glanced up at the last minute and their eyes locked. Suddenly Dean was ten paces in the other direction. 

Jess looked back, stammering. “Um, what just happened?”

Dean laughed at Cas’s wide eyed expression. He kissed the shock of his face and whispered against his lips, teasingly. “Don’t look up.”

Cas kissed him again, eyes bright when he pulled back to look into Dean’s face. “You don’t look up.”

He smiled. “I’ll see you in twelve hours.” 

He spun Cas around and chuckled, making his way back to Jess. His brother and sister-in-law had schooled their expressions. As the two groups travelled deeper into the woods, everyone descended into somber moods. 

Dean was glad at first, that the trip was so quiet. Jess stopped looking so nervous and they even worked up an appetite. When they stopped for a meal, Dean started to wonder what the silence meant. If there were no guards along their path, they had to be somewhere. He ate faster after that, but he kept his musings to himself. 

By the looks of the sun, it had only taken them eleven hours to get to Kate Milligan’s cottage. The place seemed deserted. Dean broke a first-floor window to get inside and then they waited. And waited. And waited. 

Sam came running up to the door, panting. Dean took one look at him and just knew. Still, he glanced over his shoulder to look for Castiel. 

“Where is he?”

“Dean, we need to go back. The guards, they took him to the castle. They attacked us three hours ago, and I got away, but I came as fast as I could.”

“Dammit. We should have just stayed together.”

Jess was there and pushing him out the door. “Let’s go, Dean. Let’s go.”

“I saw some horses around back,” Sam said. “Let’s ask Kate if we can use them.”

Dean shook his head, even as they made their way around the house. “No one’s home. We broke in.”

“Dean,” Sam said. He sounded pained. They stood in a line outside the fence staring in at the horses. There had to be a dozen or so frail looking ponies. 

“I don’t steal from people, anymore, Sam.”

“There are no people here,” Jess pointed out. She hopped the fence and rallied the horses. 

They took the three strongest looking ones. Still, the trip back was much longer than it must have taken the guards on full-grown, trained horses. Sam tried to call for him to wait when they made it back to the Land of Angeles. But Dean turned onto the main road and rode straight up to the castle front. He didn’t have time to waste or plan or even think. 

In an unsurprising act of loyalty, Sam and Jess followed him up the street. The midafternoon market crowd was in full swing, but they parted easily. No one stopped them. But no one had stopped Castiel from being taken, either, they had probably just watched him go by, shackled up on horseback. Dean glared ahead at the castle gates. 

He veered off to one side before them, to the side of the gardens. His family followed and they all dismounted. 

“Okay,” Dean said. His voice was surprisingly steady, even to himself. “Here’s the plan.”

He never went into a mission blind, but he felt like every job he had ever done was training for this. Castiel was the most important thing he would ever steal from the castle. He could not afford to let his nerves get the best of him. 

He also had never had backup on these jobs. He almost didn’t know what to do with them, and he told them as much. 

“Just do what you gotta do, Dean,” Sam said, bracing his shoulder. “You’re the professional. We’ll follow you, stay out of the way, and run interference if necessary.”

Dean nodded. “Okay, yeah, that sounds good. Try not to get shot.” Jess blanched and Dean’s gaze softened. “You can go back. You both can.”

“No, no,” she shook her head. “I’ve got this.” 

They snuck in through the garden and Dean used his usual back door. Dean almost laughed with joy when he turned the knob and it was actually unlocked. Bobby was waiting inside for them. He pulled them aside right away. 

“Knew you’d be coming, ya idjit.”

Dean smiled. “Got any insight for us?”

“They’ve got him up in the King’s suite. Guards all along the hall.”

“I hate that hallway,” Dean muttered. 

“That’s the point. But there is one other way in, through a red door.”

“I’ve seen that.”

“They’re all over this castle. They lead to a little hallway that runs between the walls. You can get to the suite through there and it won’t be guarded because it’s always locked. Even the royals don’t have the keys, because they always have an escort.”

“Who has the keys then?”

“Uriel, or any of the other keepers. They won’t be easy to get to, especially now.”

Dean groaned. “Uriel is dead outside the tower. I should have shaken him down, I should have…”

“You didn’t know,” Jess offered.

Sam stepped forward. “I’ll go. I’ll go right now.”

“It’ll take at least an hour for you to get back, and someone may have already claimed the body already.”

“They’ve been a little busy around here, Dean. Besides, it’s the only plan we’ve got right now. So you three keep thinking, and consider this a back a plan.”

“Okay, fine.” Dean pulled out his map and marked the general place where the tower was located. He patted Sam’s shoulder and sent him off. “Be careful, Sammy.”

Dean was getting jittery standing around. He decided to take Bobby and do a scope of the building. Bobby lent him a maintenance uniform to help him blend in. They left Jess in the worker’s quarters, to keep an ear out for any information. He promised to check back with her in an hour.

“If you don’t hear from me, leave,” he said. “I mean it.”

“Okay.”

Dean went directly to the upper-level hallway. Bobby didn’t look happy about it, but he went along anyway. There didn’t seem to be any other people milling along. Regardless, Dean tried to move quickly. He reached the hallway and stayed close to the wall, Bobby close by his side. He held a finger up to his lip and poked his head around the corner. 

He couldn’t see around the bend in the hall, but the first half was completely vacant. Dean frowned and put his hand out, signaling Bobby to wait behind. He hesitantly crept into the hallway. He was nearly to the bend when alarms started going off. 

Guards descended on him in an instant, pinning his arms to his sides and dragging him further down the hall. Dean clenched his jaw. He barely put up a fight. There were at least twenty armed guards surrounding him. He watched with a neutral face as the door up ahead opened. But through it, he could see Cas for a split second, bloodied and blindfolded, struggling in his bonds on a padded seat. 

Zachariah came through the door, smiling hugely. 

“Ah, Dean,” he said. Castiel’s head perked up, and though he couldn’t see, he turned to face Dean for a split second before the door slammed shut. “I’m so glad you could join us.”


	15. Look Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter and an epilogue! Dean and Cas try to escape from the castle.

After the guards tied his hands behind his back, Dean was escorted back into the room by Zachariah. The man was smiling, but he somehow managed to still look angry. He had everything he wanted now, or so Dean thought. 

Zachariah stood in front of Cas and removed the blindfold. His blue eyes immediately searched the room for Dean, and then Dean found himself standing beside Cas’s chair. Dean looked down at him, his eyes wide and scared. 

Zachariah sighed. “That gets quite annoying, doesn’t it?”

He walked across the room to the bedside table. When he turned back he had a potted plant in his hands. Dean recognized it immediately. 

“Crowley…” Dean muttered.

Zachariah’s smile broadened. “Yes, your former boss and I came to somewhat of an understanding, this plant for him.” Zachariah pointed a thick finger at Cas, and Dean snarled. “After he tells me what his father’s secret is, of course. Come Castiel, you were just about to tell me what this plant means.” 

“What does he want with Cas?” Dean demanded. The King ignored him, his eyes fixed on Castiel. 

Cas glanced at the plant and then away, careful not to meet Zachariah’s gaze. “I told you I’ve never seen that before in my life.”

“Liar!” he boomed. He rushed forward and leaned down close to Castiel’s face. Then he spoke with quiet malice. “Your mother was an idiot. She chose love over her family, over power, and the Kingdom. She sided with the misfits, and became one! Love is a weakness. It was her downfall, and it’ll be the downfall of you as well.”

While the King spoke, Dean worked the rope around his hands loose. His wrists were starting the chafe with the effort.

“Magic in the world is dangerous, unless we can harness it. I’ve collected dozens of demons, just like you Castiel, and soon this Kingdom will have a disposable army and monsters like you will be conditioned into soldiers. Those idiots in the dungeon have no idea what happened to them. But you do, don’t you, boy? All you need to do is talk, and I know just how to make you.” 

Zachariah finished his little declaration and glared up at Dean, who promptly stopped fidgeting. The large man stepped in front of him, pulling a small silver dagger from his pocket.

Dean tensed when the King grabbed him by his shirt. 

“I’m going to take you apart,” Zachariah whispered. He slashed at Dean’s face, leaving a deep gauge in his cheek. Dean cried out. 

Castiel echoed his cry, and with all the energy he could muster, threw himself up from his chair. The impact did little in the way of knocking Zachariah over, but it did give Dean the time he needed to finally break free of his bonds.

Zachariah was up, coming at Dean with the knife raised. Dean took his wrist and held on for dear life.

Castiel was on the floor between them, still bound and unable to move. The men standing struggled, trying to get the upper hand. Dean squeezed his wrist, twisting, until the dagger clattered to the floor between them. 

While it settled no one moved, no one even breathed. 

Then all three of them lunged. Castiel’s hand landed first, but Zachariah stepped on his forearm until it made a sick cracking sound and he took the blade away. 

Dean was leaning forward, so when Zachariah stood back up, all he had to do was thrust forward to imbed the knife deep in Dean’s stomach. 

With a groan, he fell to the floor beside Castiel. Blood poured out from his abdomen, creating a growing stain in the middle of his shirt. 

Zachariah’s attention went to Castiel. He stood him up and hit him roughly across his face. Dean was focusing on his stomach, just long enough to pull the knife out. He was losing a lot of blood. He wasn’t sure if he could stand on his own. He looked up at the two men, Zachariah struggling to finagle Cas back into his chair. 

“Cas,” Dean croaked. Their eyes met. Dean swayed on his feet, but he pushed all his momentum diving towards Zachariah and stabbing him in the throat. He pulled the knife out and the man gurgled. He stabbed him twice more in the stomach, and then they were both falling. 

Castiel caught him beneath the armpits. He turned them both when they heard a door crash open. Dean sighed in relief when he saw his brother standing there. He ushered them back through the door, into a dark skinny hallway. 

“Come on,” he said. “We have to hurry before the guards come.”

They were a bit of a mess, Cas limping and cradling his arm against him chest while Dean was bleeding out beside him. They held each other up. Sam walked in front, checking around corners for any signs of trouble. They were halfway back to the kitchen when Sam stopped abruptly. 

Crowley, in his impeccable black suit, turned the corner. Dean glared at him as best he could and moved to stand in front of Cas, keeping hold of his waist. 

“I’ll kill you, Crowley,” Dean said, but his voice was so weak it wasn’t much of a threat.

“I’m not here for your Princess. I’ve come for the war. I want to be here when the Kingdom crumbles, so to speak.” He laughed. 

“What do you mean?” Castiel said. He peeked up over Dean’s shoulder, so the man was nearly standing on top of the two of them. Crowley smirked. 

“The Queen has run away, the guards are backing down, and the King is…” he trailed off.

“Dead,” Cas supplied harshly. 

He smiled. “And there is a whole dungeon of prisoners looking for a place to park their loyalty.” 

Cas scoffed. “So you’re taking them?”

“I’m setting them free,” Crowley insisted. “Though I’m sure there will be many willing to join my ranks once I save them. Anyway, good luck, boys.”

With that he turned off. The three of them continued down the dark path. Sam had no idea how long it would take to reach the front of the castle, but he hoped it would be soon. Dean didn’t look like they could take much more. 

The reached a heavy door at the end of the hallway, and it opened easily to garden. They deposited Dean on the grass. Cas was applying pressure to Dean’s stomach, but there was only so much he could do. 

The lawn in front of the castle was filled with civilians. Many had come to search for long-lost family members. Word had gotten out about the prisoners. When those people started trickling out of the castle, the lawn grew even more crowded. 

“We need to get him somewhere safe,” Sam said over the noise. 

“It’s not safe to move him.” Cas shook his head. He knelt in the grass beside Dean and cradled his head between his hands. Looking at him still made Dean’s stomach dance, and he tried to smile. Cas was crying in earnest, tears falling down onto Dean’s face. Castiel brushed them off Dean with soft hands. “Dean? Dean, you’ve got to stay awake. Oh, you look so pale! Dean, please, look up, okay? Look up at me. Look up, look up, look up!”

 

EPILOGUE:

Chuck was helping the wounded prisoners on the lawn of the castle. He found Cas there, crying over Dean’s still lifeless body. He rushed by Dean’s family members and gently moved his son away. He could help – he was an apothecary after all. 

He used bandages to press against the wound and then fed Dean a fast-healing plant. He sat back on his heels when the bleeding stopped. There was nothing left to do but wait. 

Cas took him back to Benny’s house and stayed by his bedside almost constantly. People from the village came to visit. Dean had a lot of friends from his time fixing things. He had always helped others, but there was nothing more anyone could do for him. 

Crowley even came by one morning with the good news. The old monarchy had been overthrown. Everyone in the Land of Angeles finally pulled together and the outlawing of genetic abilities was overturned. Many townspeople were reunited with family and friends who had been taken prisoner because of their powers. The government had been kidnapping innocent people for years, and leading everyone to believe they were dead. 

People were outraged. That was the last straw.

Cas couldn’t even find it in himself to be happy. For the first time ever, he wasn’t a fugitive. But what did it matter anymore if Dean was gone? 

Then one day, when he came back into the bedroom after showing some of Dean’s friends out, he found Dean’s green eyes were finally open. He smiled for the first time in days. Dean was standing before him, falling to the ground in his weakened state. Castiel caught him easily, carrying his weight mostly on his one good arm. He brought Dean back to the bed, openly crying. He clutched him against his chest. 

Dean cradled Cas over his body, despite his own bruises, and peppered his face with kisses. This was the first day of the rest of their life together, and they lived happily ever after.


End file.
